One of the most significant awards in the nation has been given to four Latinos who have made significant contributions to music, art, and literature over the years.
The National Medal of Arts was given to celebrated musician José Feliciano, visual artist and muralist Judith Baca, and graphic artist and painter Antonio Martorell. At the same time, the National Humanities Medal went to poet Richard Blanco.
At a Tuesday at White House ceremony, President Joe Biden honored a group that included the four performers.
José Feliciano, a pioneering musician now 77, is well-known worldwide for his number-one singles, including “Feliz Navidad” and his cover of “Light My Fire.”
The Puerto Rican musician’s career has spanned 60 years, earning him over 45 gold and platinum records, multiple Grammy wins and nominations, and Billboard’s first Legend Award. He is regarded as one of the first Latino artists to enter the English market, paving the way for others.
“Blind since birth, he picked up a guitar at age 9. A pioneering art — artist bridging cultures and styles, winning Grammys, and opening doors for generations of Latino artists and the heart of our nation,” Biden said of Feliciano, who couldn’t accept the award because he was touring.
60 albums have been issued by Feliciano, who has written more than 600 songs.
The work of medal winner Judith Baca has deeply influenced California’s cultural history. The half-mile-long “The Great Wall of Los Angeles,” which focuses on California’s ethnic past, is what 76-year-old Baca is best known for. In 2017, the project received approval from the National Register of Historic Places.
Baca, who was born in Los Angeles to parents who were both Mexican Americans, is the creative director of SPARC, the city’s first mural program, which she also co-founded. Since its inception in 1974, the program has created over 400 murals across the city.
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The lives and communities of diverse Californians, especially women, youth, and immigrant populations, are the focus of her large-scale public artworks. Moreover, Baca is an adjunct emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“Her groundbreaking murals depict the strength and scope of human nature and tell the forgotten stories — and tell a fuller story of who we are as Americans,” Biden said of Baca’s work.
Antonio Martorell, a Puerto Rican painter, illustrator, and writer, was recognized for his achievements as “one of Puerto Rico’s greatest cultural ambassadors,” according to Biden.
Martorell has produced many works of contemporary art, some of which are on display in Puerto Rico, the United States, and other countries.
His work was essential to developing posters as a medium of expression during social commentary in the 1960s and 1970s since he produced early poster drawings of the Puerto Rican experience in the early years of his career.
“His work challenges and unites people across languages, classes and generations,” Biden said. “His creations span genres — painting, writing, sculpture, theater design. Always daring to try something new while building on what came before.”
Feliciano, Baca, and Martorell received the National Medal of Arts, which is bestowed on people who have contributed outstandingly to developing the arts in the United States.
A Work That ‘Bridges Cultures And Languages’
The first openly homosexual and Latino inaugural poet in the country, Richard Blanco, received the National Humanities Medal, given to those who have made significant contributions to history, literature, philosophy, and other humanities fields.
To make sense of complex subjects like immigration, race, and gun violence, the Cuban American poet’s writing has sparked public debate.
At President Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, Blanco, an author, educator, and public speaker read the inauguration poetry. Also, in 2015, he composed a poem celebrating the momentous reopening of the US Embassy in Cuba.
“His poetry bridges cultures and languages — a mosaic of our past, our present and our future — reflecting a nation that is hectic, colorful and still becoming,” Biden said. “Richard Blanco’s powerful storytelling challenges the boundaries of culture, gender and class while celebrating the promise of our nation’s highest ideals.”
“Poetry truly understands that and uses language to make us feel and think of things in new ways,” Blanco told NBC News in a 2021 interview. “That’s how it can help heal us — by asking questions we aren’t asking of ourselves and others, by changing the conversation, the rhetoric, the discourse, so that we can see beyond abstract language of sociopolitical jargon and arrive at greater truths.”
In total, 24 people and organizations were acknowledged at the White House, including music performers Bruce Springsteen and Gladys Knight, actor Mindy Kaling, and designer Vera Wang.
“The work of our honorees is as diverse as the nation that celebrates with them today,” Biden said. “But common threads weave them together in many ways in the very fabric of America: the pursuit of excellence, the drive to create, the yearning to connect, and the boldness to be truth tellers, bridge builders and change seekers.”
The honorees were supposed to be recognized in 2021, but the pandemic delayed the ceremony.
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